Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir's haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic episodes - and an intimate portrait of two people caught at the centre of a maelstrom - Nicholas & Alexandra is unlikely ever to be surpassed.

'The story of the last Tsar has probably never been so powerfully - and so accurately - told' Guardian

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There is good and there is bad in this celebrated work of an author known for his interest in russian history.The bad is, basically, his appalling anti-german bias, clearly distorting his presentation of facts, and some gross inaccuracies.It looks like mr. Massie had suffered some severe outrage from Imperial Germany and the Kaiser himself, as he can not help putting both in an otherwise inexplicable bad light. He clearly overplays Germany (and Kaiser Wilhelm’s) influence in russian politics to the point to blame Berlin for the catastrophic russian involvement in the russo-japanese war. This is ludicrous, as any scholar in russian history knows that russian entanglement in asian and far-eastern affairs can be traced well before both Nicholas and Wilhelm’s birth. On the other hand, when having to discuss with the far more fateful french alliance, that put Russia against their traditional German allies and directed St.Petersburg politics on a collision course with both Germany and Austria over the Balcans, he scarcely devotes one single statement to this eventful volte-face. He even went so far as to vilify Wilhelm for his “evil-looking spike helmet“, a depiction more likely to be hosted in a wartime pamphlet than in a well-pondered history book.Even less excusable are some later speculations made with the patent effort to downplay, and even libel the German effort to rescue the imperial family as aimed to use Nicholas as a pawn in securing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty gains (such an unlikely thesis I am encountering here for the first time, after a life in reading about russo-german relations). When such claims can not be seriously advanced, as when the germans tried to rescue Alexandra's sister, then a nun in a Moscow nunnery, they are simply not credited very much. Appallingly, when having to deal with the far more serious betrayal of the same allies, that lost all interest in the Romanovs’ fate after Nicholas was no longer a valuable actor on the political stage, and that sealed his and his family's fate, the assessment is inesplicably blurred, if any.Also, he is not at all sympathetic with the figure of Rasputin, and, at times, he indulges in judgements not really fair-balanced, although usually restrained to his influence in political affairs (something still hotly debated among his biographers).As for the inaccuracies, they are usually less relevant compared to the aforementioned fabrications. I just mention the confusion made about the name change Petersburg-Petrograd (at p.267, paperback edition, it is said tit took place on August 31, 1914, but, at p.279, the city is already referred to as “Petrograd“ on August 13th, 1914), and, when describing the Brusilov Offensive of 1916, p.339, he says that it forced the austrians to stop their successful offensive at Caporetto. The Author simply confuses the austrian „Strafexpedition“ of that year, with the Caporetto offensive of 1917, one year later.Furthermore, at p.500, the former Prime Minister Ivan Goremykin is said to have been strangled at the hands of a Petrograd’s mob, while he actually died in Sochi, in a robbery raid, according to Wikipedia.All this said, I will not deny that the book is well written with a good talent for depiction of people, situations and places. It is an enthralling read and I enjoyed often being shown the private life of the imperial family, about which it can be easily considered a valuable goldmine of facts and information. It is also a colourful account of the most hectic years of a society on the verge of catastrophe, and, at times, it gives the thrills asi f I was reading a great novel.After much weighing those conflicting features, I have been still undecided if I was to give 3 or 4 stars. The fair score would have been something in between, but, as it is supposed to be a history book, in the non-fiction category, the drawbacks take a ssaqpecial, negative value, so I have to give 3. It is an intriguing read anyway for anybody interested in the fall of the Romanovs and in their tragic destiny, but not to be used in order to understand the politics and the origins of the Revolution.

Having studied the Russian language and spent time in Russia as a university student I have long been interested in the history of the country. The last Tsar and his family and their sad fate has always intrigued me.

Robert K Massie has written an excellent, if lengthy book, covering the span of Nicholas' life. We are given the background to his family, his marriage to the German Alexandra, and his journey through family and political life. Mr Massie also gives us good background on other important characters in the story such as Lenin and Rasputin, as well as major events of national and world importance, especially World War 1. The book is detailed and thorough in its approach, but is still very readable by the layman.

It took me quite a long time to read the book, but I'm glad that I did so. I felt that Robert Massie gave a very balanced approach, presenting the information as gathered from various sources. I certainly didn't feel that he was taking any particular party's "side", but was just presenting us with the facts as he saw them. The book was quite eye-opening and I feel that I've learnt a lot and begun to understand more about the Russia of the last Tsar.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Romanovs and the last days of Imperial Russia. It is to be noted though that the book is the electronic version of Mr Massie's 1967 book of the same title. As such it doesn't cover the later discovery of the bodies of the family, and the subsequent tests to prove exactly whose those bodies were. Also, please note that the main text of the book finishes at around 77% of the way through. The rest of the book is largely taken up with the extensive notes and bibliography necessary for such a well researched work.

This is a well-written book and not unduly heavy. It's a trifle long, but the final third is taken up with notes, acknowledgements, etc. It goes into considerable detail without being stuffy. This includes the tragic haemophilia of the Tsarevitch. Since I gather that the author's son suffered from this, I can see that the detail means a lot to him. Less worthy, perhaps, is the description of the domestic lives of the young princesses, which has a degree of kitch about it. Indeed my reservation about this lengthy tome is that it goes into detail in a rather discursive way. But it seems that Massie is first and foremost a writer (and ex-journalist) rather than an academic historian. This, of course, has the spin-off that the book is certainly not dry.

Czar Nicholas comes across as a well-meaning, likeable man who did his best. Massie seems to go along with Churchill's view that he was "a true, simple man of average ability". The Empress cuts a less attractive figure, highly influenced by Rasputin, who, like him or not (and I don't) must have been a most remarkable man. It is far too simple to dismiss him as a fraud. I hadn't realised what power, prescience and influence the "Mad Monk" had. The Bolshevik storm troopers are portrayed in an unsympathetic light, and having met some of their followers in the seventies, I can see why. On the other hand, the autocracy with its arrogance and great wealth is not at all appealing either.

I was struck yet again by the initial euphoria in Russia as elsewhere, occasioned by the outbreak of the First World War: all part of a tragic backdrop and scenario portrayed in this book.